Ups and Downs

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“Come on dog, you’re the man,” my friend Will told me, as he patted me on the back and slid a Moscow Mule towards me. I am only now aware that a Moscow Mule has a high concentration of sugar, and sugar is a main cause of a hang over. I “know” this in the same way the people of New Orleans know the levees were not built strong enough to endure a category 5 hurricane. But at that moment, I was blissfully unaware of the chemical nature of the drink I was tossing back--all I knew was that I was at a bar with my friend Will, who has an uncanny knack for making me feel better with phrases and notions so simple they may seem disingenuous if taken out of context (as they are now.) There has been a lot said about men’s limited emotional capacity. We are seen as emotionally stunted due to the lack of expectations put on us to fulfill social obligations. When a young boy skirts playing with others in order to focus on studies, he’s seen as a bookworm, but when a young girl does the same, she is seen as defective. Personally, I think while men’s ability to express our emotions tends to be more limited, our ability to feel them and want to express them is more on par than expected.